There is a lot of debate about how Yule should be celebrated and whether Mother’s Night is heathen in origin. I honestly don’t care if it is a traditional Norse holiday or not. In all honesty, most pagan traditions are intertwined – the Celts, the Norse, the Greeks, the Romans – all worshiped different deities and celebrated at different times during the year. All we have to go off of now is the way we piece together what we glimpse of the past, but as I’ve stated previously, I’m not a re-constructionist.

I view my faith in a progressive way, and I believe the gods and goddesses change with the times. So, for me, Mother’s Night isn’t a day I celebrate because it was something that someone else celebrated long ago. But a day that I celebrate because I honor the life given to me by the earth – there is a reason, after all, that all people, regardless of creed, call the ecosystem we live within “Mother Nature.” Because there is an all-pervading sense of fertility and motherness that governs the earth. The planet thrums under our feet with vitality, producing the life-bearing oxygen we need to survive.

Some people dismiss the power of the Earth – try to convince themselves that humanity has conquered nature. But it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Mother Nature is much more powerful than the threat humanity poses. Sure, as a collective whole, we are disrupting climate and causing harm – but Mother Nature rises in defense of the planet every time – it’s why we’ve seen such an increase in natural disasters over the past few decades. Because Nature restores balance however she can, and I, for one, respect the earth I live on far too much to let the way I honor the gods and goddesses of my faith be dictated by the re-constructionists and nay-sayers.

For me, in a lot of ways, the Earth is the only true Mother I’ve ever known. Because my human mother drank, and when she drank, she was abusive. The Earth has always been the Mother I’ve turned to, long after everyone else has gone – the groves and the rocks around my house has offered me the solace no human has ever been able to provide for me. When I walk outside, the ground under my feet feels like home, and I feel like the whole world is underneath me, supporting me, not judging me – and that is why for me, Mother’s night is about honoring the goddess of the earth in all her aspects. And it is in honor of her that I have created this: